40th Anniversary Year of Civil Rights in America

2004 marks the 40th year of civil rights for all Americans. It is hard to fathom that it has only been 4 decades that Black Americans have had the legal right to vote. 40 years. Segregation became illegal in 1964, a huge step in the right direction, but unable to change the hearts and minds of the citizens who silently enforced it for the 100 years after slavery. Only 2 generations have existed since the passage of these laws, which is not nearly enough time to forget the way things were. But have we forgotten? As the mother of 2 bi-racial children, this question is never far from my mind. I want my children to know what life was like for their ancestors and predecessors. I want them to know they are equal to anyone on this earth, while still appreciating the fact that they have it far better than their daddy, grandparents and great-grandparents could ever even dream about. I want them to understand the struggle that hundreds of thousands of men and women lived through, sacrificing their own safety and lives so that future generations of Black Americans could exist in a world that wouldn't treat them as animals or 4th class citizens. I also want them to know that White America was wrong, but there were White people who did fight the fight alongside their Black brothers and sisters.
Our endeavor with this Black Horseman project, is to celebrate the men who succeeded when they were set up for failure. The men who tolerated abuse, degradation, low-pay, lack of recognition, and indignities before, during, and after, the Civil Rights Act. We do not only celebrate those who were the "FIRST" to break the color-barriers, etc., although that was a historical accomplishment, but we celebrate those who went to the stable each and every day, for the love of the horse, or for the meager paycheck, or whatever their individual reason may have been. It was the work of these men on which the horse business was built. These men who worked each day, who knew the horses like no White man could. They could know the horse because they lived the life of the horse. They understood what it meant to be a possession, called on to perform in order to make the life of the White man easier. They knew that in order to get half the credit, they would have to be 10 times better than their White counter-parts.
The men who are celebrated in our project, have all suffered the effects of racism in America, whether they came before or after Civil Rights. It is only a matter of degree. We hope that as we enlighten you to the accomplishments of these men that you also understand that they performed their duties under hardships not even imagined by the White horsemen of their times. And on a personal note, I hope that our collection will educate those who think that segregation really ended in 1964. We cannot truly understand ourselves or plan for a future when we do not understand the past.
This is the gift I hope we give our children. An appreciation for the generations who came before them, combined with the opportunities of today, and the hope for an even better tomorrow.
Michelle Butler

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